Impact of seniority on representation in Supreme Court

This comment pertains to judicial appointments in Pakistan. It explains how the traditional or pre-18 th Amendment process of appointing judges gave the judiciary clear dominance over regulating the appointment of judges. Consequently, this process lacked all the necessary checks and balances. The 18 th Amendment attempted to change this state of affairs by giving the Parliament a role in judicial appointments by establishing two necessary bodies: the Judicial Commission and the Parliamentary Committee. However, subsequent legislative and judicial developments have reverted the situation to the pre-18 th Amendment position.

51 Verfassung und Recht in Übersee 273, 2018

There has been a national debate raging in India about the system of appointments for Supreme Court and High Court judges. At the founding of the Indian Supreme Court, the executive had primary authority over judicial appointments. In 1993, the Supreme Court created a new system of appointments known as the collegium system, whereby the Chief Justice of India and senior judges of the Supreme Court make new appointments to the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts. In 2014, Parliament amended the Constitution and passed a bill to create a commission to appoint judges, but the Indian Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional. In this article, we ascertain whether the nature of the appointments procedure impacts the biographical and other characteristics of the judges that are eventually selected. We do this by comparing the biographical characteristics of judges appointed by the executive-appointments system (prior to 1993), on the one hand, and the judges appointed by the collegium (on or after 1993) to the Supreme Court of India. We find that both the pre-collegium and the collegium system maintain the geographical and religious diversity of India in the candidates that are appointed. However, both have failed to account for gender diversity. In addition, the path to the Supreme Court appears to have narrowed – typically those who are appointed as judges by the collegium spend longer periods in private practice and on the bench than pre-collegium judges.

Review of Politics and Public Policy in Emerging Economies, 2021

Purpose: Since the inception of the notions of separation of powers and judicial independence, different judicial systems across the globe have devised various models of judicial appointments to meet the standards of the concepts of separation of powers and judicial independence. Methodology: In general, three moles of judicial appointments namely the politicised, the judicialised and the institutionalised models have been used in different jurisdictions. Findings: In Pakistan, since its independence, all these three models have been practiced, however none of these could help to achieve the required standards of judicial independence. The causes of failure perhaps rooted in the attitudes and intentions of the constitutional players rather than internal flaws of these three models. Implications: This article analyses the pros and cons of these models of judicial appointments and the causes of failure of these models in provision of independent and trustworthy judiciary in Pakistan a...

International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH

There have been innumerable debates about gender in India over the years. Much of it includes women’s positing in society, their education, health, economic position, gender equality etc. What one can conclude from such discussions is that women have always held a certain paradoxical position in our developing country. The women position in Indian Judiciary has again been a debatable, topic which has henceforth never been into exact numerical representation. The women clan involved into the legal network of benches has been notably less. The women position has been the highest in the Supreme Court of India with ‘Nine’ Judges. The research work includes statistical data with the research of Vidhi legal policy. “The District Courts and the courts below them comprise the ‘lower’ or ‘subordinate’ judiciary. These courts lie under the administrative control of High Courts. Each judicial district in India has one District Court, below which lie civil and criminal courts of original juris...

International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 2023

Diversity is an inherent feature of democratic nations. However, in many democracies such as India, the judiciary does not reflect the rich diversity of the country. Most judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts in India are cis-gender, upper-caste men. This homogenises the perspective on law and justice. Women judges and lawyers are faced with structural barriers such as gender stereotypes, discrimination, harassment, and insufficient institutional and infrastructural support. Additionally, caste, class, sexuality, and religious identity are some factors that create multiple axes of oppression to contend with. Through a critical examination of various feminist lenses, we highlight the systemic and implicit biases that lead to disproportionately low numbers of women judges. We then recommend institutional reforms that could facilitate the creation of a more diverse higher judiciary in India.

Christ University Law Journal, 2017

There is a need for the establishment of regional benches of the Supreme Court. By the analysis of various statistical data, the paper puts forward the urgent need for widening the reach of the Supreme Court and also to rejuvenate and reestablish the tarnishing reputation of the Supreme Court as an ordinary court of appeal. The paper explores the essential reasons for the establishment of benches of Supreme Court that can be broadly divided into three heads namely (i) wide access to justice (ii) Supreme Court reduced to an ordinary court of appeal (iii) litigation as a measure of well-being. The paper also analyses the recommendations laid out in the 95 th , 120 th , 125 th and 229 th Law Commission reports and analyses problem in hand, on the basis of analysis and the immediate need for the reform of the judicial system.

NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research, 2015

BE(Civil), LLB(Hons), MBA, CLP, M.I.E.M., P. Eng(M) Advocate and Solicitor A paper presented at a seminar on CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AND ARBITRATION organized by The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (Perak Branch) on 18 October 2003 in Ipoh.